


Valkyrie Standard

by NervousOtaku (orphan_account)



Series: Tales of a 144 Player Fansession! [24]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Angels, Facing Your Weakness, Land Quest, SBURB Fan Session, the choice
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-31
Updated: 2017-03-31
Packaged: 2018-10-13 03:35:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,404
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10505574
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/NervousOtaku
Summary: Or: I'm Confident We Can Win, So Please Don't Worry About Us





	

“ _Oomph!_ Really not as soft as they look...” Bob grunted as he landed on another cloud.

“They aren't supposed to be.” one angel nearby said as he recovered.

“Soft clouds would never hold your weight.” a second agreed.

“I know, I know...” Bob nodded as he got back to his feet. Wisps of cloud followed him up and spread thin, vanishing into the air. “Am I at least going the right way?”

Neither of the angels spoke.

“Do you know hot-cold?” he tried.

“You're warmer than by the house.”

Nodding with a sigh, Bob started to flounder across this cloud.

LOCAS had no consorts. Only angels. The other Hope-players had consorts as well as angels, if not only consorts, but not Bob. He suspected that it had to do with his being the leader.

He didn't _feel_ like a leader, though.

“What makes a leader?” he asked aloud as he jumped to another cloud.

“Warmer.” one angel replied as they followed.

“The leader is responsible for tying their team together. They drive the team forward and are the one that ensures victory.” the second answered.

“Sounds more like Pygmalion. He's already god-tiered, was the _first_ to do so... keeps everyone from dying... watches out for everyone...” Bob commented as he pushed through the fluffy, evanescent puffs.

“The Seer of Doom acts out of self-fulfillment. Colder. Colder. Warmer.”

Bob turned to look out in the direction instructed. There were no clouds he could see in that direction...

“In his self-fulfillment, he loses meaning as a leader.”

“But he meets all those requirements you said.” Bob replied as he got down on his knees. Hanging over the edge of the cloud, he peeked under it. There was nothing he could see...

“There is more to it than that.”

“Then what's the point of asking? I'm no leader, for crying out loud...” Bob grumbled as he reached out, feeling through the cloud-fluff.

“It's statements like that that make you the leader.” both angels said in unison.

“As hard to figure out as the Seers...” Bob huffed, pulling himself back up onto the cloud.

As he did this, he happened to look directly down.

“Ah- _hah!_ ” he barked, somersaulting off his current perch and allowing himself to tumble through the air.

The angels followed after Bob as he started to follow the stepping-stone staircase of clouds down to the surface of the planet. Unlike the other spirals of clouds reaching down to the planet, this one went down into it. It continued down into a vertical tunnel straight into the core of the land. As he jumped from cloud to cloud, Bob found himself picking up speed.

He was _excited_.

He wanted to meet his Denizen.

The chief angel, Sandalphon.

Finally, he touched down on marble instead of cloud. A grand arch greeted him, inviting him into the warmly lit cave of the Denizen and out of the darkness. The two angels who had guided him streaked ahead into the cave.

Bob _knew_ he wasn't supposed to fight the Denizen.

But all the same, he found himself getting out his Vanguard's Torch. The wrought iron of the pole felt comforting and reassuring, as did the flutter of the bright crimson fabric of the flag, and the crackle of the flame at the top. It made him feel presentable, in a way. Despite his enthusiasm, he was still _nervous_.

Taking a deep breath, he moved into the cave.

... _Oh_.

Sandalphon was _huge_.

Bob had thought the other angels were big, but Sandalphon was enormous. Bob had to tilt his head back to see him properly, and he was far away from the Denizen. And the Denizen was resting in a depression in the marble as well.

Sandalphon was simply _titanic_.

“You have arrived.” the chief angel rumbled.

“Um. Yeah. Hi?” Bob offered, gripping his flagpole tighter.

“You have grown since your entry to this world, Knight. But you still have much to learn. Farther to grow.” Sandalphon declared, flexing his wings. Bob found himself needing to stab the flagpole into the ground in order to not be blown away. And that was just from a small flex of the wings! What would a full-blown flap be like?! “But as a Knight, there is something you hide from all. Can we trust you to triumph despite this?”

Bob blinked in confusion. “I... don't understand.” he answered.

“Can you be the leader your team needs? Can you defeat the Black King and defend your world from destruction? Or will your fear cripple you?”

... Oh.

Bob bit his lip, looking down at his feet.

“Your answer, Knight?”

“... Yes.”

“Yes what?”

“Yes, my fear will cripple me.”

The two smaller angels that had guided him shrieked, appearing to gear up for an attack. Sandalphon's wings unfurled with a deafening snap, shutting them up and knocking Bob back, skating across the ground and skinning his hands and knees. His ears were left ringing and his balance skewed as he stood and staggered over to his previous position, flag held in the crook of his elbow as he rubbed at his ears.

“You say your fear will cripple you.” Sandalphon boomed.

“Okay, no offense, but can you tone down your volume? Please?” Bob asked with a wince.

Sandalphon didn't reply.

Oh.

He was waiting for an explanation.

“You said I have a lot of growing to do. And I think having a crippling fear is essential to growing, for _any_ person, leader or not.”

“Is that so?” Sandalphon challenged.

“Yes,” Bob said confidently, “For example, Taj. He's half-blind and always worried that people will think less of him for it, so he keeps working harder and harder. Liu is always scared that he'll drag the team down with the tiniest of mistakes, so he pushes himself to do everything right. Caitlin fears death and destruction, especially the death of those close to her, so she tries her hardest to protect her loved ones. So my fear of bad things happening will allow me to become stronger and protect others better. I will be crippled, and so I will work harder. When I fall, my friends will pick me up the same way I do for them. We win or lose together, united as one. I won't be defeating the Black King alone. I won't be defending the world alone. We are a team— _more_ than that, we're friends, _family_. I'm not a leader. I'm just me, and I want what's best for everyone.”

The Denizen was silent, staring him down.

Bob gulped.

“It's for reasons like this that you are the leader.” the three angels chorused.

“... Huh?”

One of the two that had guided him moved to Sandalphon's wing and plucked a feather from it. The feather was deposited at his feet, making him blink in confusion.

“Add it to your Sylladex, and leave all your belongings in there as well. They will be taken to your home.” Sandalphon ordered, shitting.

In his coils was Bob's quest bed.

“Ascend, then return and place the final scroll.”

He looked up at Sandalphon and smiled.

“Don't worry. Whatever it is, we'll win. I believe in my friends.”

Two hours later, Bob, freshly god-tiered, was sitting next to his cruxtruder, staring at the angel-feather from Sandalophon. He couldn't figure out what he was supposed to _do_ with it...

Out of plain curiosity, he put the feather back in the chest of his Fetch Modus, then withdrew it as a card. Getting up, he wandered out to the alchemiter on the porch. Inserting the card into a slot had the projector showing a replica of the feather. He tried inserting several other cards, getting a variety of weird items that often required undiscovered grist.

Undiscovered— _really?_ What the hell kind of weirdo grist was this?

Finally, he tried the Spirograph Banner.

The result was an _extremely_ expensive flag— the Valkyrie Standard.

The flagpole itself was simple, tall and plain bronze metal. It was cross-shaped, with a banner hanging from the transverse. Lotuses adorned the ends of the cross-piece and the topmost part. The flag itself was a beautiful cream-offwhite. It had glittering golden embroidery around the edges, with blue accents. In the elevated center was a shimmering spirograph, run through with a sword. This sword had wings and a halo.

This thing cost a crazy amount of grist, but Bob was confident that the communal pool could be replenished...


End file.
